Author Archives: Paul Sloane

If you cannot pre-test then be prepared to iterate time and again, taking rejection as a source of feedback and improvement. It is painful but you might just end up with Angry Birds, Harry Potter or Google.

How can we enthuse and empower a whole new generation of entrepreneurs? How can we double or treble the rate at which start-up businesses are formed? Can we build a ladder to take entrepreneurs all the way up?

The leaders of organisations pay lip service to open innovation and claim that their people are open to outside ideas and collaboration but the reality is very different. There appear to be a number of very real impediments: Cultural and Process Barriers...

In 1959 Nils Bohlin, an engineer at the Swedish Car Manufacturer Volvo, invented the first three point safety belt. It was much more effective than the standard lap belt (as still used on airplanes). Volvo, realising the importance of this invention, chose not to patent it but to share the idea with other vehicle manufacturers. They may have lost some revenues but their action undoubtedly saved many lives and it cemented Volvo’s reputation as a highly ethical company committed to safety.

Bill Gates is renowned for being an open-minded leader receptive to radical ideas. But in turning down the e-reader he was displaying a trait common among leaders. He rejected something with an uncertain future and which did not fit in.